


Many Beginnings

by SoraHoshi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Inappropriate Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 18:44:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7280356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraHoshi/pseuds/SoraHoshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a small collection of short stories inspired by some prompts I ran across. None of these connect and they're all about Keith and Lance first getting together or noticing they like each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sleeping Idiot

The crew just finished an intense morning of training. Allura wasn't in the greatest mood since everyone was late for the new training program her and Coran prepared the day before. Her plan was already to give them something new, something a little more intense than usual. But all the yelling didn't help the Paladins' nerves. Shiro finally convinced the princess to give everyone a break when Pidge sprained her ankle. He carried her, leading everyone out of the training session of hell.

Lance left to grab a first aid kit while the rest of the crew collapsed into the nearest room to rest. Pidge sat on a chair and Shiro and Hunk on the floor in front of her, checking the injury.

“It doesn't seem bad. It's not even swollen,” Pidge argued while Shiro fussed.

“We'll wrap it up and then you need to rest.”

They all glanced over the couch when they heard a light snore. Keith fell asleep almost immediately after he laid down. He was one of the latest to the session that morning which was unusual. He tended to show up right after Shiro so they assumed something happened the night before to exhaust the guy.

Hunk scrunched his eyebrows and stared at Keith. Something was off all morning. He seemed less grumpy than usual but he also got thrown around more than expected. Lance didn't help his concentration either with all of the smart remarks every time he fell over.

“He was acting weird during training.” Hunk said.

“Mm...” Keith started.

The Paladins stared at the man on the couch in contemplation. Hunk was right. Something had to be wrong. You'd think Keith would be in bad mood after being thrown around so much but he didn't so much as glance at Lance today no matter what the guy said. From an outsider's perspective it'd be like Keith was just done dealing with Lance's crap. But knowing Keith, it was more like he was purposely avoiding any interaction with Lance that he could spare.

Shiro nodded at Hunk. “Did he get in a fight with Lance?”

They discussed the possibility but it was dismissed quickly since Keith seemed to be in the best mood they've ever seen him in before.

“L-...Lnce...”

Pidge let out a quiet laugh when she realized Keith was still asleep while Shiro just sighed. Of course they knew whatever happened had to do with Lance. They just didn't know what.

“Please... Lance mre... more-” Keith let out a light snore.

A crash was a heard as a cup fell from Hunk's hand, spilling juice all over the floor. He started coughing while Pidge and Shiro's eyebrows disappeared into the sky.

Keith let out another soft snort then a, “So hard...”

That's when Pidge tried to stand and Shiro moved to cover her ears, causing them to topple over. They both yelled at Hunk to make it stop since he was closer to the couch.

“Tas'e good...mm...”

Hunk's face turned green and he let out a quiet, “No.”

“Mm... I want... ples... 'side me...”

“Hunk, wake him up!” Pidge shouted through her hands. “I never asked _why_ he was in a good mood!”

“No,” Shiro said pink faced, “Just roll him over so he stops. He apparently needs to rest. A lot.”

The two argued about which was a better option while Hunk slipped in his juice trying to reach the couch to do something, anything to shut Keith up. The room got louder as the three Paladins panicked.

“What the hell are you guys yelling about? Haven't you had enough from Allura?”

The three shut up and turned towards Lance as he walked in the room, handing a roll of bandages to Shiro. He froze halfway when a quiet moan sounded form behind him.

“Lancce... more... s'good...”

Pidge looked up at Lance's bright red face and explained how the guy wouldn't shut up and they didn't know what to do and-

“Please make it stop. I don't care what you do just shut him up,” she begged.

Hunk cut in, “We're happy for you, man, but there are some boundaries between friends that do not need to be crossed.”

Lance stuttered out what seemed to be an apology and tripped his way over to Keith. His right hand supported him on the back of the couch while his left shook Keith roughly. The sleeping man bolted upright almost knocking heads with Lance.

“Huh,” a little disoriented but awake, he quickly turned into his old self and yelled, “What the hell, Lance!”

When he didn't get an immediate response, he looked up. Noticing the odd expression on Lance's face, he followed the man's eyes south of his stomach. He flushed to match his suit and quickly lifted his leg to at least hide the problem from the other stares in the room.

Lance chuckled despite his own embarrassment and put his hand on Keith's knee. “I told you, you sleep talk idiot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the prompt for this piece:
> 
> "Keith falls asleep in the living room (?) and says some things that make everyone uncomfortable and Lance is not there so when he comes in everyone looks at him like ╭(°A°`)╮'he keeps talking about your  (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) make it stop.'"
> 
> \- from Perkele at http://velazyraptor.tumblr.com/


	2. So Close

Coran thought he'd get everyone started with some simple teamwork exercises. All they had to do was help each other dodge and block. The training room would shoot all kinds of blasts and slash all kinds of swords but no attacks of any kind were allowed in retaliation. They really had to pay attention to their environment and strategize based on position, not on process of enemy elimination.

“Come on Paladins,” Coran encouraged through the speakers, “Keep it together.”

Lance turned to the balcony where Coran waited safely behind thick glass. “Sorry, I don't think Keith could do that.” Keith twitched in irritation. “His beautiful mullet's going to get ruined with all the crashing and fallin-Ah!”

The paladins all lost their footing at Lance's words and almost got hit. The two boys had been getting closer recently but they've rarely been so blatant about it. Lance crashed to the ground mid sentence when Keith pushed him out of the way of a lazer blast. They quickly got back on their feet and Pidge gave Hunk a tired look when she heard Keith's response.

“You moron! Don't just stand in an open field. Pay attention or you're going to get hurt!”

Lance just ruffles Keith's hair and drags him behind a boulder. They continue to argue quietly though no one can hear them at this point. At least not until Keith shouts, “Damn it, Lance!” and runs from the boulder just as it's blown to pieces leaving Lance behind. He sighs and runs back over after the dust clears and asks Lance if he's okay. Ignoring the response, he puts his hands on either side of Lance's face and lets his eyes frantically search the man's face.

“A few scrapes but nothing serious,” Keith mutters. He looks closer into Lance's eyes, coming almost nose-to-nose with him.

Lance puts a hand over Keith's and smiles. Pidge stares at them with narrowed eyes and a cross between a sneer and a frown on her face. Of all the oblivious morons in the world she couldn't believe she was supposed to trust those two idiots with her life. Her distraction caused her to get blasted into the wall and Hunk to come to her rescue. The wall was pretty far back so she wasn't hurt too badly.

“You'll be sore for a while but you'll live,” Shiro tells her when Hunk pulls her to his hiding spot.

“They didn't even notice, did they.” Pidge glares at Keith and his, “Stupid mullet.”

“What are you doing?” Lance pulls at Keith's hand halfheartedly. “Do you even know how to check for a concussion?”

Keith flushes and pulls away. “Shut up, asshole. There's no permanent damage to your face, don't worry, you're still a lady killer.”

Lance takes a moment to pose and Keith takes a step back from his anger to rolls his eyes. “Yes, yes. You're very muscular, now move!”

Lance takes heed and with a shove and a yelp, Lance pushes Keith out of the way of another blast. At this point Allura's frustrated by not only the boys' lack of concentration but their clear lack in observational skills. She promised she wouldn't interfere with Coran's training this morning but she was getting impatient. She's not very familiar with Earth practices but she was going to get an aneurysm if those two didn't realize how much they care about each other.

A quick breather away from the supposed saviors of the world helped lower her blood pressure a decent amount but the moment she turned around she heard a screech and a, “Damn it Keith! What did I say about your hair?”

She looked down and saw Keith recovering from a hit in the back. The blast was strong enough to knock the breath out of him and of course, the most important part, ruin his hair. Allura watched as Lance covered his concern with a glare. That's when it came to her. The solution to all of their problems. No longer will they have to worry about Keith rushing in to protect the boyfriend he doesn't even know he has without thinking about the consequences. No longer will they have to sigh in impatience or glare in annoyance as the boys fling backhanded complements at each other without even realizing it. The solution was there all along.

“Lance!” Allura shoved Coran away from the microphone. He yelped and fell to the floor while sparkles were emitted from her eyes as she shouted, “Hold his hand!”

Everyone froze. Time seemed to slow down. Heads turned towards the red and blue figures crouching together in the open. “God damn it, please” was on everyone's faces, even sweet unobtrusive Shiro was clearly directing it towards his teammates. The stared at Lance's hand reach out to Keith. They dared not to move as Keith brought his hand up from the floor to grasp Lance's. When they were both on their feet Lance let his hand lose, causing everyone watching to take a step forward in protest.

The protest died on their lips when they saw Lance take his opposite hand to hold Keith's, so they could more easily run side by side. A boomerang was coming straight for their heads. Beads of sweat, not from exertion, fell from Pidge's forehead. Allura's smile blinded Coran it was so bright. Lance tugged Keith's hand and they both ran out of the way together. They moved behind a small wall, hands still held. Everyone relaxed and internally cheered, their faces much brighter.

Shiro smiled. Pidge smirked. Hunk nodded in satisfaction. Allura beamed. And Coran grinned in a way he hadn't since before him and the princess awoke.

“Dumbass!” Allura froze along with her sparkles. Lance was yelling at Keith again. “I told you to be careful. That ass needs to be protected at all costs.”

“Lance,” with not a blush on his face, Keith gave Lance the most irritated look anyone had seen from him all day, “Leave my ass alone. Anyway, you're the one protecting it so I have nothing to worry about.”

No one moved for a good seven seconds as they processed Lance and Keith pulling each other out of harms way, yelling angry complements at each other, and not running off to find a nice corner to make out in. Allura's sparkles disappeared and a shadow fell on her face as dark as Shiro's armor.

Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk all screamed as they were suddenly hit with a small army of lazers that locked on to their position. Much yelling ensued till Coran convinced Allura not to leave them all in there any longer just to punish Keith and Lance.

The Paladins sighed as they left the room, Lance and Keith for a different reason than the other three. They ignored the couple and took a moment to catch their breath. Allura stayed back to cry out her frustration and Coran stayed with her to try and console the poor matchmaker. Still holding hands, Lance and Keith turned to their three partners and took in their ragged appearances.

Lance scrunched up his eyebrows. “What the hell happened to you guys? Why were you hiding in the same spot for so long?”

Keith nodded. “I hate to agree, but Lance is right. All three of you shouldn't be this distracted during a training session.”

The sun would melt from the intensity of the glares their backs received that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the prompt for this piece:
> 
> "Keith and Lance are flirting but they don’t know it and everyone is like ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) and finally Allura yells 'HOLD HIS HAND LANCE' and Lance does as he’s told and they continue flirting but now they’re holding hands and everyone is still like ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)"
> 
> \- from Perkele at http://velazyraptor.tumblr.com/


	3. Meddlesome Threesome

“They're too dumb.”

Pidge and Shiro were bickering quietly in the kitchen. Dinner was about to start and they thought they'd help Hunk bring the food to the table. He was becoming quite the talented chef since he started making it a point to beat Coran to the kitchen. No one needed another round of-what was it called? Some bright orange dish that had similar benefits to cayenne pepper and turmeric but at the same time smelled like Lance's socks after a Galra attack.

“It's not that bad,” Shiro said diplomatically. “They'll get there eventually.”

“And drive us all crazy till they figure it out. They're worse than you when Allura-”

“Shut it.”

The girl rolled her eyes. Shiro would never listen. So she came to a decision. And clearly a good one if the look of uncertainty and fear on Shiro's face was any indication. She smirked wide and patted his arm in mock comfort.

“Remember that big fight they had this morning?” Shiro nodded. “I bet you by the end of lunch, even after they punch it out, they still won't come closer to understanding why they're so... _frustrated._ ”

“ _Pidge!_ ”

Hunk and Pidge both laughed at Shiro's scandalized voice. It wasn't that he was naive, he was shy and couldn't imagine having this kind of conversation with anyone on his team let alone Pidge. Him and Allura was no one's business. There wasn't even anything to have business about. And even if there was, a meddling devious Pidge was last on his list to know about it. Especially since she felt the the need to meddle in the worst ways. Such as offering to actually start the physical fight between Lance and Keith. She let it slip that maybe if they felt a little _something_ from each other they might get the idea. Which of course would make her lose the bet but she didn't seem worried. Shiro of course agreed because he had faith in Lance's awkward flirting, at least it working on Keith. With a quiet groan, Shiro shook the outstretched hand of the little trouble maker.

“You are our witness Hunk!” she shouted in excitement. Hunk just laughed and continued cooking.

When lunch was ready and everyone sat at the table, Shiro couldn't stop avoiding making eye contact with anyone and Pidge couldn't stop trying to make eye contact with everyone. Of course the two boys noticed none of this since they wouldn't stop brooding.

Shiro was getting anxious. “Boys, anything you need to talk about?”

Lance and Keith turned their heads in opposite directions and let out grumpy sounds of denial. Lance was leaning on the back two legs of his chair, angrily bouncing the chair backwards. So focused on the boys, Shiro didn't notice Pidge till he heard her snicker. He tried to stop her, “Pidge, no-” but it was too late. Lance was already toppling onto Keith and into the floor, bowl of food in his lap and all.

“What's your problem?!” Keith stood, hands in tight fists.

“It wasn't me!” Lance stood in defiance, “Pidge bumped-”

“Yeah, blame someone else for your lack of balance, idiot.”

“Mullet-”

The insults were lost on Shiro as he sighed into his food. Eventually he calmed them down enough to at least have them put their plates away before stalking off in an angry huff. It really was exhausting watching over them. Shiro stood with a muttered, “I know, I know,” at Pidge's wide eyes and expectant face.

Shiro thought he had the worse end of the deal if he lost but he was so confident that he would have won. This fight had to be the last straw. Weren't they tired of wondering why they got under each others skin while simultaneously working so well as a team? Shiro honestly just needed to stop unintentionally encouraging Pidge. He sighed and pulled his shoulders back, walking out into the hallway to where the boys where talking in soft angered voices, almost as if the fight just started.

“H-hey guys,” Shiro cleared his throat softly as he walked behind Keith. Lance barely let out a, “Hey,” and Keith ignored him in favor of coming up with some very creative names he knew he normally would never hear in their presence if they were conscious that he was around. This was his chance. _Bet now, scold later. Bet now, scold later._ He cleared his throat again when he passed Keith and lowered his voice an octave.

“Get some!”

Keith whipped his head around and Lance's jaw dropped. With all three boys pink faced, Shiro hurried around the corner to where Pidge and Hunk were waiting. Apparently high fives were a necessary ordeal even though the pair was still a good three yards close to them!

“Don't worry,” Pidge laughed, “They're too shocked to notice anything other than the pounding in their ears.”

The meddling threesome peaked around the corner to watch Lance reach out and almost touch Keith's arm, but stop at the last minute to sprint away with a nervous, “I-I'll see you l-later, mullet.”

“What are the odds Keith has him up against a wall in the showers in a week?” Hunk mentioned casually.

Shiro made a strangled sound.

“Three days,” Pidge countered.

There was a pause. Shiro watched Keith's confused expression. He's known that boy for years. He may have been wrong about him realizing his emotions, but he wouldn't be wrong about this. Keith was rash, but Pidge had a point about him being dense. He probably won't realize Lance feels the same way.

“I'm with Hunk,” he finally said.

“You're on.” Pidge grinned.

***

Hunk was standing with his back to the entrance of the training deck when Shiro and Pidge walked up to him. It was time for their morning group training session before breakfast. Hunk was flushed and sweating as if he'd just finished his own workout session. He also seemed to be mumbling to himself?

“-gonna do? Oh-hey Pidge, Shiro, I was walking to the training deck because we have to train and I opened the door and didn't knock because this is a public space-a PUBLIC space but I just-I didn't expect-I didn't _want_ to-I just wanted to train and that bet was for fun, I thought I'd hear about it from someone, not-I just wanted to stretch before I had to run and Lance had to have his tongue shoved down Ke-”

“What?!” Pidge and Shiro shoved behind Hunk and stared at Lance grinding Keith into the ground, Keith's shirt halfway up his chest, arms pinned above his head making noises _none of them needed to hear._ Shiro was just about to yell at them to leave it in the bedroom when Pidge interrupted his train of thought with a very valid question.

“So... Who won the bet?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the prompt for this chapter:
> 
> "Shiro loses a bet (idk what kind of bet but he probably lost to pidge) and he has to go to Keith when he’s talking to Lance and say 'get some.'"
> 
> \- from Perkele at http://velazyraptor.tumblr.com/


	4. I Can't Believe It Worked

The first time it happened was an impulse that broke through the careful self control Lance tried to at least place on this one part of life. A crush, a real crush, was best kept under control. Lance was sprawled about the couch, arm lying over the back, one leg kicked off the side, and head back against the armrest. He was singing loudly while Hunk and Pidge hovered over her computer. They were discussing how to improve Pidge's hardware with their limited resources.

_“...en mis brazos yo quiero tenerte_

_y que sientas lo que siento_

_cuando t veo caminar, no me puedo...”_

Lance's cover of Shakira's “Hips Don't Lie” was interrupted by Shiro walking into the room closely followed by Keith. They finished their own extra workout after everyone else was done for the day. They did that a lot while the other Paladins rested and tended to their own interests, already sore from their regular group training sessions. Shiro walked into the room in a sleeveless shirt and a towel hanging around his neck while Keith had on a white t-shirt that pulled across chest and upper arms. Keith had his own small towel in hand and was ruffling his mullet dry.

They were discussing... something. It was kind of hard to concentrate on the words when there was a drop of water trailing down Keith's neck into his shirt and making the smallest section of it translucent. Lance licked his lips and sat up a little straighter.

“Damn Keith,” he started. That got the room's attention. Keith gave Lance a look of tired disdain. Lance just grinned as he proudly said, “You're hotter than the bottom of Pidge's laptop.”

A surprised silence came about the room for a brief second before groans and exasperated shouts of his name came from everyone except the subject of the line. Keith's lips thinned and his eyes were unmoving, frozen in their shock at the sudden outburst. He looked to Pidge's laptop then slowly moved his gaze to Lance. Lance was frozen in his grin, struggling to keep it in place while his heart pounded. Keith finally turned and walked out of the room.

A disappointing start but Lance let out a deep breath and relaxed back into the couch. That wasn't so bad. It seemed like Keith thought he was teasing him. He could do this if it wasn't straight out rejection. He probably just thought Lance was being Lance. Yeah. Perfect. Lance's heart rate slowed to a regular pace and he started singing again.

It wasn't until two days later that Lance found the perfect opportunity for one of his favorite lines. The Paladins were in the middle of an intense battle in the training room. Lasers were being shot at them from every direction and Allura was yelling through the overhead speakers. Keith and Lance were back to back, blocking and countering the blows. Keith suddenly had a little too much to handle on his end. Another four guns teamed up against him and he got a powerful blast on his side, knocking him to the floor. Lance stumbled at the sudden loss of support and fell next to Keith. The lasers moved on since both boys were down, giving Lance a chance to get a good look at his teammate.

“Shit, Keith, are you okay?” Lance knelt over him and supported his back with one hand forcing the injured man into a sitting position.

“Ow, damn it Lance, I'm fine.” Keith rubbed his eye.

Lance's eyes suddenly widened. “Keith.”

“What now?” Keith was trying to look around and see how everyone else was doing.

“Does your left eye hurt?”

“It's fi-”

“Because you've been looking right all day.”

A grunt was heard behind them as Hunk tripped and was shot down. Lance and Keith both ignored it. Lance in favor of winking down at the mullet in his arms and Keith in favor of glaring daggers at his idiot team member.

“Now is not the time, Lance!” Keith pushed him back and stood, running to help the rest of the team.

At least he spoke this time.

Third time's the charm, right? Not too long later, Lance was talking in the hallway to Coran and Pidge. He let a smirk come to his face as he noticed the mullet walking by. He took a breath to compose himself and continued talking, but keeping Keith in his peripheral vision. When Keith was almost directly within Lance's eye sight, he called out to the mullet. He was ignored, which was frustrating, but Lance kept at it. It took a minute but finally Keith became more and more aggravated and turned to acknowledge his presence.

“What?”

“If I were a stop light, I'd turn red every time you passed by, just so I could stare at you a bit longer.”

Coran's eyes receded into his hairline. He didn't know what a stop light was, but the general message still got across. Pidge slapped a palm to her forehead. Keith narrowed his eyes and tilted his head like he was trying to figure out how Lance came up with that one and why the hell he would say it.

The weeks continued on with Lance coming up with reasons to harass Keith, no one knowing how he was coming up with these lines since Pidge was guarding her laptop like a hawk from specifically Lance. They didn't have access to internet but she was sure he'd find a way to get his hands on some new material.

One of Lance's favorites was during lunch about a week later. Hunk got his hands on some meat similar to chicken, so everyone was very excited. They all groaned in satisfaction when taking their first bites, clearly missing the food at home.

“This tastes exactly like chicken,” Pidge complemented. Everyone agreed it was fantastic and Hunk allowed a flush to come to his face, smiling at all the complements. After Shiro gave his thanks to Hunk for all the hard work, Lance decided it was time.

“Keith.”

The man didn't stop eating, just let out a distracted _hmm._

Lance smiled. “If you were a chicken,” everyone but Keith paused, weary to hear the end of the sentence. “You'd be impeccable.”

The complaints were loud and plenty. Keith almost choked on his fake chicken and glared at Lance. It was the worst one yet.

That same night, the Paladins were trying a bowl of Altean fruit. Now, Lance knew he'd used a line not long ago, but decided it was an appropriate time for this particular one. He cleared his throat and looked at Keith seriously, “If you were a fruit,” he started. Keith looked up, immediately knowing what was happening, but surprised by the timing. “You'd be a fineapple.”

Shiro let out a warning, “Lance.”

Everyone at the table had disappointed looks on their faces except Allura and Coran. They were more confused than anything. Lance sat proudly next to Keith and let his happiness show. It wasn't until Allura asked what a “fineapple” was that Lance lost his composure and laughed the fruit juice up his nose.

A few days later, the Paladins just finished an evening training session and were about to head to bed. Keith stood, announcing his exhaustion. Before he could leave, Lance tugged on his sleeve. Keith turned to him wide eyed, not used to this kind of gentle physical contact from the man.

With a deep calming breath, Lance looked Keith in the eyes, his own serious with his slightly furrowed brows. Then he opened his mouth, “Can I follow you to your room? Because my parents always told me to follow my dreams.” Keith almost punched him. He inhaled sharply and held that anger in, walking away. Lance was about to push a little further and pretend that was an invitation but Keith told him to fuck off.

The days continued with instances such as Lance appearing near Keith out of nowhere and saying, “Well here I am. What are your other two wishes?” and interrupting a serious meeting when Keith was reading from an important document to say, “If you were words on a page, you'd be fine print.”

The last straw was when everyone was in the control room. Allura was showing the Paladins their path and how long it would take to get to the planet they were stopping at to resupply. She was going on and on about fuel levels and proper food to look at for nutritional benefits and blah blah-blah blah-blah. Lance tuned her out and watched Keith. He really was hot. It was hard for Lance to keep his eyes to himself when that dark hair and serious face was in the same room.

Suddenly, Lance shook his head. “Sorry, what was that?”

Shiro had called his name. “You need to pay attention to this,” he said, “It's important.”

Keith was a bit less calm than their diplomatic leader, “Damn it, Lance! You need to take this seriously. Do you _want_ to starve?”

Lance simply let his winning teeth show, “Sorry, but it's not my fault! Are you a magician?”

“What?” Keith was furious. It was no time for his stupid random-

“Because whenever I look at you, everyone else disappears.”

The exasperated groans that Lance was now very familiar with went around the room. Shiro was about to reprimand him but Keith stuck his finger up, signaling Shiro to wait. It was a few beats till Keith got his composure together. No one expected him to walk towards Lance, least of all Lance himself. The suddenly scared Paladin took a step back. There's no way he'd punch Lance, right? He'd been responding... not positively, but it was going so well! Lance could finally get away with letting his feelings out without feeling the crushing rejection and ruining their friendship and team dynamic!

Keith stopped a mere two inches from his face. Their toes were touching and they were almost nose-to-nose. Lance leaned back, squeezing his eyes shut, fists clenching, bracing for impact as well as preparing himself to fight back. He waited. And waited. And waited. But nothing happened. He opened one eye, then the other. Keith was smirking.

Smirking?

Lance was about to yell at him for being so annoying when Keith let out a short chuckle.

The red paladin licked his lips slowly, making sure Lance's blue eyes followed every movement. “Lance,” he whispered, “There are 8 planets in our solar system.” Lance nodded, unable to keep his eyes off of Keith's lips. The Paladin let out another, deeper chuckle. Then with a low voice continued, “But only 7 after I destroy Uranus.”

Lance's eyes snapped up to Keith's and his jaw dropped, throat suddenly dry. His blood was fighting with itself, much of it wanting to head south but the majority of it going to his face.

The room was silent for all of two seconds as everyone processed Keith's words. Then the embarrassed sighs and the snickers started. A mumbled, “It's about time,” could be heard from Hunk. Allura let out an embarrassed laugh herself before finally clearing her throat and going back to explaining the plan.

But all Lance heard was his heart pounding it's way up his throat. Keith's smirk was still plastered confidentially in place as he winked and turned back to Allura and her map. Lance let out a strangled sound and almost fell over.

Who knew Keith would actually respond... positively? That was positively, right? Yeah, definitely positive. Lance would gloat about it later. After he could breath again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the prompt for this piece:
> 
> "Lance shooting bad pick-up lines at Keith like  (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞ and Keith’s there like ಠ_ಠ but eventually he starts shooting pick-up lines too and in the end Lance loses when Keith says the cheesiest line ever."
> 
> \- from Perkele at http://velazyraptor.tumblr.com/


	5. And Then They Fought

They started off the night in the common room with two glasses. It wasn't too much but it was just enough to smile at everything. Shiro didn't have more than one bottle and Hunk split one with Allura. They were a little too tired to properly celebrate this victory against Zarkon's army. Besides, someone had to stay sober. They could never truly be off duty.

“So Prrrincess. I think it's time we do some celebratin' of our own,” Lance slurred out next to his three empty bottles.

Shiro plucked the half empty fourth bottle out of Lance's hand with a, “That's enough of that.”

“N-nnnno. C'mon Shiro, I'm not thaaat drunk. Jus', lemme finish the bottle.” Lance waved his arms about, trying to reach for bottle on the other side of the couch. He leaned over a little too far and slipped onto his stomach. “Oof.”

“Get off me, idiot!”

Lance started at the loud voice and the sudden shove. He fell to the floor and looked up, dazed, at Keith's wobbling face. Not quite understanding what happened, he began to shout, “Screw you, mmmullet! That was comf'rt'ble.”

Keith flushed and kicked Lance's arm. Damn him for ruining this perfectly happy evening where for once, they were getting along. They'd just kicked some galra ass and were ready for a break. They needed this one night to be happy and Lance had to go and get wasted.

“L-lance,” Keith stuttered, “Shud'up!”

Though, Keith seemed to have his own collection of empty bottles on the floor by his head. Not that anyone wanted to get too far in between him and the alcohol. This particular battle with the galra was hardest on Keith and Lance. They were separated from everyone else and so everyone wasn't able to form Voltron. Allura was able to back up Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge from the castle's position, but couldn't reach anywhere near Keith and Lance. The two spent most of the fight defending each other, pushing each other out of the way of particularly brutal blasts. When both of them were at their limit, lions scratched up and dirty, both boys sweating and bruised from the knocking around, Hunk blasted through the swarm of mini galra ships and saved their asses, guiding everyone through so that they could finally form Voltron.

When the battle was over, Keith and Lance came out of their lions grinning at each other from ear to ear. Nothing could have ruined that moment. Except apparently too much altaen alcohol.

“You shud'up!” Lance replied to Keith's knee.

“Oh, good com'back. I'll save tha' one for laterr.” Keith growled.

“Stow it,” Shiro stood and grabbed Keith's bottle from his hand with nothing more than a small whine in protest that was quickly hushed with a firm look. Keith pouted and crossed his arms.

“Tha's what you get, mullet. I can' drink so no one can.” Lance laughed.

This was turning out to be a rough night. Shiro sighed and sat back down with the alcohol officially away from the two wasted men. He watched them for a few more minutes as they slurred a conversation to each other that had them both giggling and yelling. Shiro decided it was time for bed when Keith said something about Lance's family and Lance started to say something about Keith being g-

“Nnnooooooooooooooooo,” Lance yelled in Shiro's ear after he was pulled to stand.

“You're done for the night,” Shiro said.

“Why're you stoppin' him, Shiro? He was jus' about to tell me somethin'.” Keith was seething. He dared Lance to continue.

Shiro was getting desperate and started pulling on Lance's arm forcefully.

Suddenly, Lance started crying.

Shiro let go of Lance's arm at the surprise from the sudden wailing. Lance took the opportunity to fall to his knees next to Keith on the couch and take the man's hands in his own. His lip quivered.

“Keeeith, Keith y'know I love you, man.”

Keith didn't say anything for a moment. No one said anything. No one even breathed. This was a delicate situation that could go one of one way. And it didn't go the one way anyone was expecting. Keith's mouth moved into a pout and he started crying too.

“Duuude,” Lance said. “Dude, what's wronng?”

After a few hiccups, Keith was finally able to get out, “I love you too, man. You... You're...”

They both nodded at the other and grabbed desperately to hug as best they could with their knees in between them. After quickly maneuvering their legs into a more comfortable position off of the couch and out of their way, Lance stopped crying momentarily to grab Keith's face in his palms.

“Keith. You... You...”

Keith couldn't take his eyes away from Lance. They were absorbed in their own little world of bonding. Keith placed his hands on top of Lance's. Mouth slack-jawed and eyes wide, Keith waited for Lance to open his mouth again.

This time, something else came out. All over Keith's lap.

“Oh, gross,” the groans could be heard from around the room.

Quickly, Shiro took initiative and grabbed Lance to get him as far away from Keith as possible. Once he processed what happened, he was going to be pi-

“LANCE!”

Oh, boy. Hopefully they remembered none of it tomorrow.

“Clean him up, would you, Hunk?” Shiro almost pleaded.

“No problem,” Hunk sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the prompt for this piece:
> 
> "I need a fic where Lance and Keith get really drunk and get mad and start yelling at each other but in the end they become a crying mess and confess that they actually are really fond of each other and hug
> 
> "And then Lance throws up on Keith"
> 
> \- from the-stray-liger at http://the-stray-liger.tumblr.com/post/146284795841/i-need-a-fic-where-lance-and-keith-get-really


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